Hawaii’s Kansei Matsuzawa Learned To Play Football On YouTube—Now He’s Kicking Game-Winners Against Stanford
From Tokyo to Honolulu, Kansei Matsuzawa’s journey proves the American Dream is alive on the college football field
If you were looking for a story that shines a light on the American dream, look no further than Hawaii kicker Kansei Matsuzawa, who kicked a last-second field goal on Saturday night to defeat Stanford in what was a beautiful way to wrap up the opening weekend of college football.
But, what if I told you Kansei Matsuzawa did not actually learn how to kick a field goal until he trained himself by watching YouTube videos while living at home in Japan? Pretty crazy, huh?
Well, that's exactly how the Hawaii kicker found his way onto the football field, and is now basking in the glory of helping his team pull off the win on Saturday night. And yes, his journey to college football is a true story of an American dream.
Matsuzawa did not play football, or even have an interest in the sport, until he was twenty-years-old, which I'm sure will shock plenty of people.
"I had no idea when I was young how to play football. I used to play soccer," Matsuzawa said. "Growing up that's what I played."
It wasn't until he witnessed an NFL game that his interest peaked, but he had no way of learning the techniques needed to be a placekicker while attending high school in his home country of Japan.
So, he turned to YouTube and Instagram for help.
Having played soccer his entire life up until that point, this was obviously going to be a massive transition, but he still needed a spot to play in college. His aspirations are to play professional football, and not the kind you see overseas. So, while he was still learning how to speak English, Kansei Matsuzawa had put together enough tape that some schools were interested, although they would be at the junior college level.
But, he had shown enough that Hocking College in Nelsonville, Ohio offered him a chance to pursue his dream. After drilling twelve field goals, with a long of 50-yards, during his second season at the JUCO level, Hawaii was looking for a kicker.
From Japan To Junior College In Ohio, To Playing For Hawaii?
Mind you, Kansei Matsuzawa had not even thought about playing football until three years prior, so the chance to play at the Division-1 level was seemingly the perfect way for this story to continue unfolding.
He transferred to Hawaii in 2023, where he would redshirt his first year on the island, but then ended up winning the starting spot last season, finishing 32-32 on PAT's, with a season-long 41-yard field goal coming against UNLV.
But think of his previous years heading into the 2025 season as a magical buildup to a moment so big that it makes all the hard work pay off. This was the case as he lined up for the game-winning field goal on Saturday against Stanford.
What came next? The crescendo.
We are one game into the 2025 season, his second year playing for Hawaii, and I can't think of a better way to encapsulate his story of determination. And he still has eleven games left in the season, possibly more.
Every day, we are looking for inspirational stories about living out a dream, finding the one thing that makes you happy and doing everything you can to make it a reality.
On Saturday night in Hawaii, Kansei Matsuzawa turned himself into a legend on the campus of a football team that is fighting for respect in this sport. At the same time, we also got to witness another example of someone living out their own type of ‘American Dream’.
Isn’t college football great?